How to be grateful when you endure life's hardest trials

No one just wakes up one morning and says, “Lord, I want to go through a trial today.” No one desires to walk through the bad seasons…the health problems, the fatal diagnoses, the losses, the depression. No one longs for suffering. But what if I told you that the moments when you don’t think you can go on are the moments God has filled with hope, especially for those around you?

That was the case for my mom. During the height of COVID-19, she was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). A fatal neurodegenerative disease that makes its victims prisoners within their own bodies. It takes away the ability to walk, talk, eat, and eventually breathe. That’s definitely not a trial my mom chose to walk through. But it’s a trial the Lord helped her endure all the way to her death…all to bless me in the long run.

You see when I was 16, I turned away from the Lord. For 10+ years, I searched to fill my emptiness in all the wrong places. As time went on, I started going to church again. But even then, my faith was empty. My mom knew this. And she wanted nothing more than for me to fully commit my life to Him. So, she prayed countless prayers. She invited me to church services every chance she got. Still, God hadn’t answered her prayers for me, even when she passed.

Church services didn’t change me. 

Bible studies came up empty.

I was never truly redeemed. 

But do you know what did touch me? 

Watching my mom navigate a debilitating and fatal disease with unwavering faith and strength. Seeing her smiling and full of joy even when we had to spoon-feed her like a baby. 

Hearing her last words as she incessantly prayed, “Thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name,” on her deathbed. 

It was through those moments and countless others that I was forever changed. 

I felt hope by witnessing how she faced the hardest trial of her life with peace, joy, and strength that just didn’t add up to me at the time.

I wanted what she had.

It wasn’t until months after my mom’s final breath here on Earth that I realized just what she had. A deep, supernatural relationship with the Lord. It was then that I started seeking true redemption in the Lord, and what I found in the Lord has forever changed my life.

That’s why I’m forever grateful for life’s trials—even when those trials mean losing the closest person to you on Earth. If my mom hadn’t relied on the Lord to give her the strength to navigate her final trial with unwavering faith, I wouldn’t have longed for what she had.

Witnessing my mom reflect God’s peace and joy as she handled such a horrific trial gave me hope. Hope that led to my redemption.

So I’ll leave you with something to ponder, whether it’s now or the next time you’re face down on the floor in tears, screaming to God, “Why me? Why this? Why now?” 

What if your suffering could be someone else’s redemption story? 

What if your trial is meant to bless someone else? 

Would you navigate your trial differently if so? 

When you feel worn as your trial abounds, remember, there is someone out there who will be forever grateful for the Lord’s power they encounter through the trial you're facing. You may not witness the fruits of your trial, but God sees and knows. And the people you touch along the way, they know. 

This article first appeared on Twyla Franz's Begin Within: A Gratitude Series.